Five Reasons We Owe it to Children to Teach them About Humanism

Can
you have morality without religion? Most definitely. There are many
communities out there trying to live their based on reason and
informed by science, and the most recognizable among them is perhaps
humanism.

But
what is humanism? It
can be difficult to define what humanism actually is because, though
humanism has been around for centuries, the need for a robust but
concise definition is relatively new.

However,
the Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy gives a simple overview that
may serve us well:

Believing
that it is possible to live confidently without metaphysical or
religious certainty and that all opinions are open to revision and
correction, [Humanists] see human flourishing as dependent on open
communication, discussion, criticism and unforced consensus.

So
why teach children and teenagers about humanism, and how can it help
them get a more complete picture of the world?

1.
Giving children the ability to think about what is right and wrong
for themselves is crucial

Obviously
without religion, humanism cannot rely on a strict and already
established moral code. It therefore teaches children that morality
must rely on other things like reason and logic. In turn, this
encourages a child’scritical
thinking skills and
could help them think more deeply about how the world works and about
how they would like to be treated and treat others.

For
example, by recognizing that regardless of a person’s religious
faith, there are some fundamental things we can agree are important
to us all, say being allowed to pursue our dreams reasonably without
discrimination or interference from others, children can begin to
recognize the similarities we all share and thus may be more likely
to treat each other with respect and kindness.

2.
Humanism encourages children to think about the meaning of their
lives

Without
religion there is no divinely ordained plan for our lives. While this
may be a scary thought for some, for others it can be incredibly
liberating. For children and teenagers who identify as atheist or
agnostic, humanism can give them a foundation on which to build their
future goals and could empower them to recognize that it is likely we
only get one shot at life, and so to do their best with what they
have been given, to fight for equality and, in general, to make the
world a better place.

Here’s
a video from the British Humanist Association on how humanists can
find happiness in knowing their lives are not being controlled by
some unseen god-like force and find meaning in discovering the many
meanings in their existence.

3.
Humanism encourages compassion

One
of the key notions in humanism is compassion guided by reason.
Humanism can teach children that without a divinely ordained meaning
to their lives, and with a need to think critically about the world
and face the hard facts of our existence, a compassionate view toward
others, their failings and their missteps is not only reasonable, it
is vital to helping each other to grow and making the world a better
place.

Compassion
in humanism recognizes that we are all capable of making mistakes but
that, without a god to judge us or inspire us to be better, it is up
to us to do the work of being kind even when kindness is difficult to
muster, and cultivating our own sense of virtue. This can be applied
on a day to day level, for instance to encourage people to think
about how they treat their classmates and not to bully others, and on
a macro level where older children can think about bigger questions
like why people may believe capitalism as the system is applied now
has failed those most in-need.

4.
We can do good in the world without religion

For
me, this is one of the key things that I believe humanism has to
offer: teaching children young and old that kindness and acts of
generosity do not depend on religious tenets, nor should they
hinge on us being rewarded at the end of our lives.

There
are millions of people doing good in the world simply because they
recognize that helping others is not only the right thing to do, it’s
desirable for making the world a better place for all others.

5.
Humanism offers a community for teenagers without belief

We
often discuss an “atheist community,” but on its own
atheism and agnosticism are not actionable, and nor do they give a
voluntary community with shared ideals beyond a simple non-belief.
Humanism does that, and for children who do not have a belief in any
kind of deity or afterlife, teaching them about humanism could
provide a much-needed sense of belonging and a means to accessing a
wider community that can encourage them to think critically about the
world and support them as they develop their own ethics.